Help Pennsylvania Join the 13 States w/Prohibited Red Light Cameras

Red light camera tickets violate the due process of Pennsylvania residents and visitors.

Running a red light or stop sign is a traffic violation, which must be cited and enforced by a municipal or state warranted police officer. Cameras do not have the capacity to judge the safety of coming to a complete stop or the necessity of drivers to pass through an intersection at a red light. Additionally, there are many intersections with cameras that violate video surveillance law.

Not all traffic lights within Pennsylvania have a countdown, warning vehicles and pedestrians of a light change. Several traffic lights do not have yellow lights timed appropriately to allow enough time for drivers to take safe actions at intersections.

The average reaction time for humans is 0.25 seconds to a visual stimulus. There is a 1 second delay (driver reaction time) in hitting your brakes. Often, both recognition and reaction time is 2 seconds. A reasonably skilled driver could easily get deceleration rates in excess of 20 fpsps without loss of control.

Our neighboring state of New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the country, ended its red light camera program in December 2014.

"The state Department of Transportation already issued a report based on previous years of red light camera data in New Jersey, which showed that safety improved just as much at intersections that didn't have red light cameras as those that did - telling us nothing about whether red light cameras actually make us safer. The town of Brick quit the program out of its own volition, despite $830,000 in annual revenue, because the mayor said its red light camera intersections saw an increase in rear end accidents from drivers who feared a ticket and stopped short." [NJ.com]

Pennsylvania State law currently places the vehicle owner as liable for tickets determined by red light camera programs, despite the the lack of photographic evidence of the vehicle owner being at fault.